Drawing The Line (13 page)

             
But it worked. “Okay.” Noah held up his hands but didn’t drop his stare. “We’ll keep tracking Brody on our end and reach out to vice to see if they’ve got anything new. I’ll see you in a couple days.”

             
“Roger that. And by the way.” The unease building in Jason’s bloodstream took a quick breather as he went all brows-up at his partner. “Congratulations on your impending change of address.”

             
Catching Noah off-guard was rare, but the look on his face suggested Jason had struck gold. “Violet told you.”

             
“In case you haven’t noticed, her poker face sucks, Blackwell. Of course she told me.”

             
“She thought it would be, ah. Better coming from her,” Noah said, his stare taking on an edge of softness that didn’t lessen its intensity. “But you should know the job isn’t the only thing I take seriously anymore.”

              Jason nodded, jamming his feelings down tight once and for all. “Just don’t go asking me to help you move that ugly-ass recliner of yours. I’ll never hear the end of it from my sister.”

CHAPTER TEN

Serenity wiped her brow and inhaled the made-for-each-other scents of spicy cinnamon sugar and tangy, oven-soft apples as she slid the baking sheet full of apple turnovers to a cooling rack. Reaching beneath the curtain to prop the side window open just a crack, she greeted the much-needed breath of cool twilight air. The safe house kitchen might not have stellar ventilation or be the diner she knew by heart, but it wasn’t all bad, either. Between her daily self-defense lessons with Jason and her equally frequent phone conferences with Jules to keep Mac’s running smoothly, Serenity’s mind was actually busier and more at ease than she’d hoped for.

And when
she factored in the toe-curling sex they were having every night,
not all bad
suddenly became
very all right
. She knew her caution flags should be at high alert— after all, living impulsively was her mother’s trademark, not hers. But when Jason flashed her that sexy little half-smile and held her like they were the only two people on the planet, it didn’t feel capricious or fleeting.

It felt right.

“Hey,” Jason said, pulling her from her thoughts right back to the kitchen as he came in from the front of the house. Worry lines bracketed his mouth, and his honey-blond hair stuck out just enough to suggest he’d been raking a hand through it for the better part of the day. “Noah just left, so I’m going to secure the house for the night.”

A smile quirked at the corners of Serenity’s mouth
, and she let it out in an effort to erase some of the worry from his face. “You know he did a sweep not even two hours ago, right? This place is like a cute farmhouse version of Fort Knox. Plus, I hate to say it, but you look like hell. Why don’t you sit down and have a turnover? You can always check the place out when you’re done.”

Jason’s gaze tracked over the space of the kitchen, lingering for just a second on the dead-bolted side door before turning towa
rd the baking sheet full of turnovers on the butcher block. “Mac’s specialty. What’s the occasion?”

“
Funny you should ask. All the ingredients, including my secret blend of spices for the filling, showed up as part of today’s grocery delivery. You wouldn’t happen to know how that came about, would you, Detective?”

His face remained impassive as he
nudged his tie aside to fiddle with the buttons on his shirt, and although he still looked ragged, a smile flickered over his lips. “Nothing I can confirm or deny at this time, Ms. Gallagher. But hypothetically speaking, it’s plausible that your restaurant manager makes a very accurate list.”

Serenity laughed
, and she closed the space between them, her kitchen clogs squeaking softly over the wood planks. He looked like he’d had one hell of a long day. The least she could do was comfort him with a little food. “If you wanted apple turnovers, all you had to do was ask.”

“
I didn’t,” Jason said, pulling her close to plant a kiss on her mouth before she could call him out. He’d eaten two huge helpings of peach cobbler in one sitting earlier this week. No way was she falling for him not having a soft spot for pastry. “What I mean is, it’s not why I asked Jules to make the list.”

Confusion licked through her, and she pulled back to give him a look. “It’s not?”

“Nope. I know you miss being at Mac’s. I thought maybe the turnovers would make you feel a little more at home.”

“I feel at home with you.”

The words were out before Serenity could clamp down on them, her cheeks burning hot in their aftermath. But they
had
come out, and there was no sense in trying to cover them up. So she said, “Look, I know we agreed not to make any promises, but I can’t lie about how I feel. After we leave here, I don’t want this to end, Jason. I want to be with you when we go back home.”

Jason’s unreadable expression became nearly impenetrable. “We said no promises for a reason, Serenity. This isn’
t just complicated because it’s my job to keep you safe. It’s complicated because there’s always going to be a witness, or a case, or a guy like Brody to put behind bars. And I’m always going to need to answer those calls.”

His body went rigid be
neath her hands, the tension gripping his body a clear invitation to drop it so he could dodge his emotions.

But rather than letting him cover them up or stuff them aside, she met them head-on with the truth.

“I’m always going to want you to answer those calls, Jason. It’s part of who you are. But you’re not just a damn good cop.” Serenity slid her palm over his chest, tracing a path over the soft cotton of his shirt until her fingers splayed gently over his heart. “You’re a good man. And it’s about time someone showed you that you can have both.”

She lifted up onto her toes,
cupping his face with both hands as she placed a gentle kiss on his mouth. “Let me show you.”

Jason dropped his forehead to hers. “It’s more complicated than this. I want to, but—”

“Let me ask you something,” she said, brushing the pad of her forefinger over his lips to quell his protest. “Do you think Noah is a good cop?”

His chin snapped up. “I trust him with my life every day.”

“Exactly.” Serenity’s pulse beat double-time through her veins at the look of sheer intensity on Jason’s face, but she didn’t hold back. “Do you believe he loves your sister?”

“He’d better,” Jason muttered, but then he tacked on an honest, “Yeah. I do.”

“And your father.”

“What about him?”

Jason went completely still under her hands, and Serenity knew she was venturing into the heart of touchy territory. Jason had told her all about his mother passing away when he and Violet were young, and how their father had raised them. “He was a devoted cop. And he raised his family. He had both, just like Noah and Violet have both. I’m not asking you for forever, Jason. I don’t know what’ll happen when we walk out that door any more than you do. But I want to at least give it a shot and see what happens.”

“And what if I can’t do both? What if I’m not like Noah, or my father?”

The question rode out on nothing but honesty, which was exactly how Serenity answered it.

“You have to take a leap of faith and find out. But I trust you, and I want us to try.”

He closed the space between them in a rush, kissing her with fierceness that bordered on need, and she kissed him back, matching his desire. Serenity wrapped her hand around his tie, keeping him close as their tongues slid together, deepening the kiss, the contact, everything between them. Undeniable heat sparked between her thighs, and she arched against him in the doorframe in hungry suggestion only he could fill.

“
Serenity. You are so wide open and…God. Beautiful.”

Jason’s voice was reverent against her neck, and it was all the answer Serenity needed. Reaching down low, she entwined her hand around his, guiding his arms all the way around her body.

“Take me to bed, Jason. Let me show you how good you really are.”

#

Serenity lay in the middle-of-the-night dark of her bedroom, watching the patterns of shadow on shadow as they crept over the ceiling. Her breath wound into her lungs, calming her with each intake and release, and the muscles in her shoulders eased away from her spine in a blissed-out state of post-sex euphoria.

Her stomach let out a
gurgle and growl that shattered the nighttime quiet like a thunderclap.

“Nice,” Jason said over a sleepy chuckle, sliding a bare arm around their already entwined bodies to pull her even closer
under the sheets. “We really should do something about that.”

Suddenly, Serenity didn’t feel so tired after all. And as Jason
slid his hands around her ribcage to settle her right in the center of his lap, it became wildly apparent that he was
anything
but sleepy himself. “What’d you have in mind, Detective?”

             
“Apple turnovers.”

             
The laugh that rolled up from her chest felt too good to pull back on. “You have a one-track mind,” she said, pushing up from the warm confines of the bed to rummage for her shirt and jeans.

             
“You might want to reserve judgment until you see how I’m going to feed them to you.” Jason pulled his own T-shirt over his head, but she stayed the rest of his motions with a gentle touch.

             
“In that case, stay right where you are. You’re going to need all the energy you’ve got.”

             
Serenity slipped her feet to the floor, shrinking back for just a moment at the shock of the cold boards on her warm skin. The kitchen in this place might run hotter than an active volcano, but the rest of the house still knew it was a spring night in the middle of nowhere.

Jamming her feet into her discarded kitchen clogs to ward off the chill, she sent one last look over her shoulder
at Jason, who lay smiling and seductively sleepy-eyed in her bed, before promising,

“Be right back.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Jason lay back against the pillows, breathing in the fresh-linen scent of Serenity’
s shampoo with the hot edge of anticipation for her return to bed. It didn’t matter that they’d just made love twice, or that she was a witness and he was a cop.

He wanted her anyway
, and not just in bed. He wanted to
be
with her.

He wanted
her for good.

Serenity’s footsteps echoed softly as she padded down the hall, and Jason collected their rhythm out of habit. They’d practiced moving through the house at night more than once, and after spending the last three weeks with her in the farmhouse, he’d grown accustomed to the cadence of her feet as she carried her frame from room to room.

Every cell in Jason’s body snapped to attention, and he yanked on his jeans with one hand while reaching for the nightstand with the other.

Something was very, very wrong.

A muffled thump sounded off from down the hallway, and his instinct screamed again though the rest of him stayed silent. Serenity’s name sprang to the tip of his tongue, but he clamped down on it. Yeah, Jason had seen the deadbolt in place on the kitchen door earlier, and he’d completed a sweep of the rest of the house in between their bedroom sessions, just like he’d said he would.

He hit the panic button on his cell phone without thinking twice.

Silently checking the clip in his Glock, he stood and holstered the thing at his side. Doing his best to avoid the spots on the floor that gave up obvious squeaks, Jason moved to the cracked-open doorway, honing his attention on the hall. After fifteen excruciating seconds of nothing but silence, he drew his weapon with one hand. The other got busy palming the heavy brass knob he’d oiled into submission right along with the hinges the day they moved in.

His heart slammed in his ears as he swept the hall
way in both directions and saw…

Nothing.

The corridor was clear. The house was utterly quiet, only the soft glow of the kitchen light spilling in from around the corner through the living room. Yet still, his deeply ingrained survival instinct screeched of things not right. There were no utensils clinking softly as the drawers were opened, no slide of metal on wood as the baking sheet made the trip from the butcher block to Serenity’s hand.